tarigwaemir

Sherman Fairchild, on the Feast of Sts. Joachim and Anna

A long day at the lab. I came in especially early because we had scheduled DNA extraction for today, but the person from whom we had hoped to borrow CTAB buffer and a new protocol didn't arrive until nearly noon. So the morning was spent designing primers while finding myself unexpectedly popular on AIM, carrying nearly four conversations at the same time. I'm afraid I shamefully snubbed people in the process; many apologies for the lack of or delay in response. >_<

We ended up beginning the DNA extraction procedure after lunch, and boy, this procedure is much more fussy than the one we usually use. It's twice as long and requires batches and batches of reagents and buffers to be made up beforehand. Since it was my first time attempting a CTAB-based extraction, I was more cautious and hence slower than usual. Now it's 7:30 PM, and in about half an hour, I'll finally be able to go home. (Once again, everyone else has headed home before me.) Of course, I'll still have to finish the second half of the protocol tomorrow. Working a 12-hour day is probably normal for, say, Daera, but it's definitely a bit much for me. (I average around 9-10 hours.)

But I must say, I really love this protocol. It's very precise and not at all messy. It may be long, but it's relatively straightforward and simple (despite the fact that half the steps must be performed in the fume hood, which for some reason has a broken light). I hope this procedure really does increase our yield, because it's definitely my favorite out of all the methods we've tried so far.

Will resume posting travel diaries tomorrow, I think. It's taking even longer now because I stopped writing so diligently in my journal after Day 5 for, um, reasons stated before. >_>

Yours &c.

Post-script: What beautiful pellets! (The larger the pellet, the more DNA extracted, presumably.) I am starting to feel exuberantly optimistic again.